This Friday, May 23, at 8 AM ET, Tom Ciurczak’s “Top Of The Rainbow” music video will be premiering on YouTube at https://youtu.be/6cbO3dNRcu8. This is the second music video on Tom’s upcoming album, “YORICK” which is due June 27 on his label Ludlow TFC Records. Filmed in beautiful black and white on the streets of Tustin, California this past winter, the song is a lament over lost love, “I was thinking of ‘Somewhere over the Rainbow’ when I started writing it, hence the title, but like with many songs it evolved and took on its own meaning.” With horns and soaring harmonies “Top Of The Rainbow” stands out on “YORICK”’s rockier vibe. Tom’s goals in creating new albums include having at least one love song on each release.
The album, “YORICK” features a range of Tom-created stories. “Yorick” is about the court jester’s skull from William Shakespeare’s “HAMLET.” “The Watcher” is about an abandoned alien from another planet.
“Am I M.I.A.” is a tongue twister about a guy so bored with his life that he disappears and moves to Miami to become a mercenary. Tom’s “Chameleon” is a private eye and master of disguise written as a theme for a fictitious TV Show. The Billy Joel-inspired “A.L.T.O.W.D.” is short for “Another Long Typical Ordinary Working Day” is an introduction to someone in the Afghanistan heroin trade, who we later find out is a C.I.A. agent!
Tom says the topical “You’re Next,” is inspired by the Who, Rage Against the Machine, and Martin Niemöller’s poem, "First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak because I was not a socialist.” “Where Do I Belong” focuses on the homeless crisis. “Malleus Maleficarum,” which means “The Witches’ Hammer” offers parallels with the people of Ukraine fleeing the destruction from the war. Tom wrote personal songs as well—the Steppenwolf-inspired “Wild One,” which pays tribute to one of his friends that didn’t survive youth.“
Tom’s literate rock & roll is called “Heartland Rock.” “YORICK” is Tom’s fourth album, and-- like his previous releases-- were inspired by melodic and storytelling artists including Bruce Springsteen, Warren Zevon, Steve Earle as well as a range of classic rock and roll. He notes “my song structure is not your everyday ABABC type. I think the influence comes from my love of early prog music that’s seeped into my DNA.”
Top of the Rainbow
Well, I didn’t mind when you said you were going out tonight
Cause I thought you’d always be around
And all of the time that you said you were hanging out with your friends
I never thought you’d let me down
Believe it or not I was on top of the Rainbow
Can’t you see, didn’t you see, it was me
And all of the times you said baby please
And the times I said maybe, seems we never could agree
Well, I never understood when you said you were leaving
Cause I thought, you’d always be around
And after you left, I had a hard time accepting that you’d gone
I wondered if I let you down
Believe it or not I was on top of the Rainbow
Can’t you see, didn’t you see it was me
And all of the times you said baby please
And the times I said maybe, seems we never could agree
And I believe when you told me win or lose
Be together ‘til the end now who’s the fool
Now some time has erased all those tears
But the memories burn inside
And they bring back all those fears
C 2025 Tom Ciurzcak / Ciurczak Songs (BMI), All Rights Reserved
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